George prefers his history accurate, animals obscure, and costumes ornate. He has a wide streak of humor, a deep love of family, and a strong affinity for purple. He also has Tourette syndrome (primary: gross motor) and OCD. At the start of fourth grade we began exploring his love of learning at home. This website serves as an occasional showcase of what we cover. Thoughtful recommendations and reflections welcome.

49% of me is appalled I didn't think to check the forecast before we set out, but the other 51% is so glad I didn't, because of course I would have postponed it, preventing us from seeing The Coolest Thing Ever.

Yes, that includes the two does, one with fawn, noshing roadside, as well as the man riding up the mountain on the recumbent bicycle with the rainbow windsock.

So it's still sunny when we get to the top, and we begin to do our plant/tree thing. We've only knocked out three identifications when we realize an older man is waving to us and hollering, "Hurry! Come see it before it gets here!" We're confused, but we quickly walk over to the lookout where the man is standing. There's a bit of a breeze, but that doesn't explain the noise like a droning pounding of drums.

Only when I look out and see a line as clean as if it was drawn with a ruler do I realize that what we are hearing is the approaching rainstorm pummeling the land below. We can actually see where the edge of the rain is, so George and I dash to Little Pinnacle to get closer. From there we can see cloud wisps flying between Little and Big Pinnacles, but the rain seems to sort of be sticking to the other side of Big Pinnacle, so we race over there to see what it's like...

This entire enterprise feeds my soul. Little Jimmy Mac might be my project. Also, right before I got a link to this, I was listening to NPR and now think this book might be of interest, not that G doesn't think of his own questions already. http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/08/23/educators-students-ask It just struck a chord with me because this week I've been exhorting college students to learn to ask the right questions.

I'm working from a Socratic Seminar approach, which is how I ran those third grade reluctant reader book clubs all those years (and how the middle school I'm hoping George will enter operates in many classes).